Brother sentenced for purchasing vehicle in fatal crash

Steven Mark Kelty, the driver of the 1997 Chevrolet TrailBlazer, is serving a prison sentence in connection with the fatal crash that killed a Hamburg Township police sergeant who was riding the 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle (inset) at the intersection of Latson Road and Figurski Drive in Genoa Township in September 2014.(Photo: Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily file)

A man who purchased a vehicle for his brother, who then killed a Hamburg Township officer in an accident, was sentenced Thursday.

Michael David Kelty, of Dearborn Heights, initially faced up to five years in prison for allowing an unlicensed person to drive a vehicle that caused death, but he entered a plea earlier to a misdemeanor of allowing the unlicensed person to drive.

Steven Kelty(Photo: Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily)

On Thursday, Kelty was ordered to pay fines and court costs as well as $10,481 in restitution to the victim’s son. The restitution has been paid.

Kelty, 50, earlier acknowledged that he purchased a 1997 Chevrolet TrailBlazer for his older brother, Steven Mark Kelty, who hasn’t had a driver’s license since 2002.

Under Michigan law, an unlicensed driver cannot register a vehicle.

Steven Kelty was driving that vehicle on Sept. 26, 2014 when he cut the corner as he turned left from Latson Road to Figurski Drive in Genoa Township and collided with the Harley-Davidson motorcycle operated by Sgt. James “Jim” Sanderson.

Sanderson, a 20-year veteran of the department who had worked as a road patrol sergeant and as an undercover narcotics officer with the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team, died at the scene.

Steven Kelty was sentenced in May 2016 to 15 to 30 years in prison for operating a vehicle on a revoked license causing Sanderson’s death and operating a vehicle under the presence of marijuana causing death.

He is currently housed at the Alger Correctional Facility in Munising. His earliest eligibility for parole is March 2030.